Marketharborough parkrun news

Run Report #204 – 23rd March 2019 by Louise Dicicco

This morning started like any other Saturday, sorry, parkrunday… I got up, had a slice of toast and a cuppa, before heading off to the lovely Welland Park.

I chatted to a few friends before heading to the start line, where the RD – Lisa – announced this week’s milestones – Katherine Horder, Joanne Colbert and Aisha Redhead all completed their 50th parkrun - congratulations to you all, but especially to Aisha who is only 11 years old – well done.

There was another unofficial milestone achieved today by our lovely marshal, Austin Hobbs – his 150th volunteer today – a remarkable achievement given that we have only had 204 events in Market Harborough. There was a huge round of applause for Austin as everyone showed their appreciation to him, and I’m sure he was even more generous with his high-fives on his corner this week.

The run was quite ‘normal’ for me this week, 3 laps of a beautiful park – what isn’t there to like? I often try and have a little mind game with other runners around me, and this week was no exception. Each week I seem to find someone that I overtake, they overtake me, I overtake them and so on; I always try and set my sight on someone a little ahead of me and try and catch them on the last lap; my mission was accomplished (or so I thought) just after the dog walk, on the last lap, as I overtook my target; unfortunately, the lady wasn’t going to be beaten and we both upped our pace
for a fantastic sprint finish as we crossed the line together, both achieving our best times in months (not personal bests, but it still felt like a massive achievement) – thank you Anne Linsell for spurring me on to the end. Let’s do it again next week!

I set off to the café to catch up with friends, and not having to rush off was a rare treat this week – so much so that I finally left the park at 11.30am. We sat chatting, putting the world to rights, when RD Lisa approached our table and asked if anyone would like to write the run report this week. A sea of silence ensued, so I volunteered, and here I am!

The beauty of parkrun is the social aspect of it. There I was, sitting in the café with friends, none of whom I knew until parkrun came to Harborough almost four years ago. Long after the majority of parkrunners have gone home, the RD and other members of the core team are still on duty, processing results that we all eagerly await the arrival of, trying to sort out any discrepancies between times and tokens.

We should all be extremely grateful to the RD each week and the core team, because as corny as it sounds, parkrun wouldn’t happen without them, or the other volunteers, so a massive thank you from me. When most of us have dispersed home and are looking forward to next Saturday, the core team are still busy working behind the scenes, answering emails, replying to Facebook posts, sorting out the volunteer roster for next week, washing kit, sorting kit – the list goes on and on.

This week saw 365 people run, jog or walk the course; there were 34 first timers, 10 of whom were completely new to parkrun – welcome to our wonderful family, we hope to see you again soon; there were an amazing 90 PBs today – brilliant running!